A field where the proposed Provenance subdivision would be built is seen Tuesday next to a sign advertising a public hearing near Sundance Drive and Colo. Highway 66 in Longmont.
(
Matthew Jonas
)

LONGMONT -- Six years ago, the Provenance neighborhood was planned to have 226 homes. That's one of the few things that's stayed the same.

The developer says the new version will be as good or better. But the changes have some of the neighbors worried.

"It is not OK to throw out the existing development plan in favor of the new one," Rebecca Bearson, a Sundance Drive resident who lives directly south of the proposed neighborhood at Sundance and Colo. Highway 66, told the Longmont City Council last week. "It does matter what is built there."

On Tuesday, the City Council will get its own say on what's built there. That's when it will hear an appeal from the Planning and Zoning Commission brought by Sundance's homeowners association. Among other things, the HOA claims the new plans will create massive traffic problems and be a poor fit with the homes already in the area.

"Please take a drive down Sundance at the posted speed limit," Kate Schulz, a nearby Montgomery Circle resident, asked the council. "You will quickly see the inherent connectivity problems and traffic damage Provenance will do."

Planning commissioners gave their stamp of approval to the new Provenance plans in September, by a 4-3 vote.

The city originally approved the 76-acre development in 2007 as a "new urbanist" design, a philosophy built around walkable neighborhoods with a range of housing levels, including affordable housing. In the case of Provenance, that included rear-loaded garages that connected to the alleys, several guarantees for "traffic calming" and a variety of home types that included at least 20 percent affordable housing.

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But recession came, the housing market shrank and Provenance was never built. Since then, city planner Don Burchett said, the property has changed hands, with a new owner who wants a more traditional subdivision with front-loaded garages and similar housing types. The affordable housing requirement is long gone, dismissed by an earlier council.

In a Sept. 25 letter to city officials, Jeff Handlin of Provenance 66 LLC said the new design still would be a desirable one. The average lot size would go up slightly to 7,400 square feet, he noted. The development would have more open space and trees than required by Longmont code and would accommodate larger back yards for each home.

"Much thought and consideration was put into the redesign," Handlin wrote. "We believe the plan presented has many great features and will be an asset to the city of Longmont and the surrounding community."

Neighbors, however, say the design puts twice as many homes along Sundance Drive and that the proposed traffic calming measures aren't adequate for the volume of cars that will have to use the street to go in or out of the area. One Sundance neighbor, Richard Quigley, said Provenance was projected to add more than 2,000 vehicle trips per day to the street -- though part of the problem, he noted, was because when Sundance was first built, it was supposed to be a collector street with no homes on it at all.

"The city helped create the current problem," he told council members. "Thus, the city has an obligation to help solve these problems."

"It is true, because of the unfortunate, outdated design of Sundance Drive, that any development on the Provenance site will force traffic directly through our neighborhood," Bearson said. "But what the (planning) commission failed to recognize is that putting fewer houses on the site could drastically reduce the number of vehicles."

Handlin, in his letter, said he plans to build all the traffic calming measures that were required when Provenance first annexed into the city, and has proposed a third traffic circle in addition to the two already shown in the annexation agreement. The plan also removes parking spots on the east side of the street.

"These incremental improvements to the existing plans should further assist in slowing traffic speeds through this residential area," he wrote.

City council members visited the area Tuesday evening. No council meeting was held Tuesday night.

The Provenance hearing is part of the Oct. 22 council meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. in the council chambers, 350 Kimbark St.

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